Now it's time to say good-bye...

Dear Quest family,
As you all know, today was my last day. Next week my husband and I will be flying back home to LA where he will start residency at Harbor-UCLA and I...will be miserable without Quest! It breaks my heart to leave such a talented, incredibly sweet group of students and a caring staff who would go out of their way to make me feel appreciated. Teachers, I have learned so much from you and I've enjoyed working with you. Parents, thank you for raising such lovely children! I need lessons from you when I start my own family! It was truly a privilege for me to teach them. Their creative energy inspired me everyday. Here are some photos of my last day:

Pam and Kathy had every student from Quest sign the back of this shirt. I will treasure it for-ev-er. too cool for school.Students, if you're reading this- I will never forget you guys!! Keep up the beautiful work.
Love, Ruth

End-of-the-year projects

LE learned how to make a mosaic out of cut paper. The theme was dolphins.

As part of UE's Mesoamerican study, students made Aztec masks using cardboard and painted paper.

Following the Inca tradition, students sewed grave dolls out of fabric and yarn. These dolls were placed in graves and believed to carry the deceased into the afterlife.

MS students created sculptures using only marshmallows and toothpicks. They were judged on three criteria: structural integrity, originality, and aesthetic appeal. I was very impressed with the results!

MS: Wearable Paper Sculptures

One of the assignments I had at RISD was to make jewelry only using books. It was a fun project so I did a similar variation using magazine paper. I ripped a bunch of paper by color and demonstrated basic shapes, like the coil and fan. Some students expanded on those while others created totally different designs. I can definitely see these on the runway!

LE: Fish Bowl Still-Life

Students painted a fish bowl in the colorfully patterned style of French painter, Henri Matisse. Oreo, the class fish, was our muse:)

UE: Van Gogh Self-Portraits

One of the Upper Elementary students was really inspired by Middle School's landscape drawings and asked me if they could do the lesson too. I love it when students get inspired by each other! Rather than doing the same lesson, I had UE paint Van Gogh's self-portraits. We looked at many of his self-portraits and discussed how he used color and texture in his work. After sketching the face together, I demonstrated how to layer stroke after stroke the way Van Gogh did. Small details like using the round brush instead of the flat brush was really important in this lesson. It's great seeing students carefully choose various sized brushes to achieve different strokes (putting them in a utensil tray is an effective way to organize them btw!)

Cranes for Japan

MS students made lovely paper cranes for the children of Japan who were victims of the tsunami/earthquake. OshKosh is donating clothing for every crane that gets sent to them.
Click below to find out how you can help!
http://www.carters.com/Cranes-For-Kids/cranes-for-kids,default,pg.html

Community Art Project finished:)

This was a collaborative mural painted by all grade levels. You can read more information about the idea here.

MS: Chinese Bamboo Painting

Middle school students painted beautiful bamboos inspired by Chinese brush paintings. Although we didn't have sumi brushes, which have the flexibility to produce variations in line, students used three different sized brushes for the bamboo, stems and leaves, and learned how to hold them like you would hold a sumi brush. It was challenging and new so I had them practice on smaller paper first. Students were required to overlap and paint various shades to show foreground and background.

Exhibit Q

Georgia O'Keeffe Flowers-UE
Top: Joan Miro Constellations-UE
Bottom: Butterfly Studies-LE

Optical Art-MS

Georgia O'Keeffe Flowers- MS Far left: Chess board by Cooper Cardone-UE (so sorry I didn't get a better picture!)

Bottom: Totem Poles-UE

Guitar by Cooper Cardone, UE

Skateboards-UE
Musical performances by students from Lower El. to Upper El.
Warhol Soup Cans-LE

Last week, the music teacher (Kelly House), woodworking teacher (Margery Bradshaw) and I (the art teacher!) held a music and arts night at Quest. There was artwork on the walls, beautifully crafted wood pieces and fun performances by the students. I was so encouraged to see so many parents! I loved showing off the students' work and seeing the many other artistic abilities they had. Thank you teachers for helping us put this event together and the parents for supporting the arts at Quest.